Device for drying, stretching, and airing articles of apparel.



No. 798,547. PATENTED AUG.29, 1905.

K. WALSH. DEVICE PoR DRYING, STRBTGIHNG, AND AIRING ARTICLES 0F APPAREL.

APPLIUATION FILED NOV. 27, 1903.

UNITED SICA'IFS ramena* cierren.

KA'IHIGRINE IAZALSH, OF MOORES MILL, NElV YORK.

DEVICE FOR DRYlNG, STRETCHING, AND AIRING ARTICLES OF APPAREL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug.l 29, lrU.

Application led November 27, 1903. Serial No. 182,731.

fo z/ZZ whom, Z may concern:

Be it known that I, KATHERINE lVALsH, a citizen of the United States,residing at Moores Mill, Dutchess county, New York, have invented a newand useful Device for Drying, Stretching, and Airing Articles ofApparel, of which the following is a specification.

My invention consists of an improvement in devices for drying,stretching, and airing articles of apparel. x f

I have frequently observed that there was no apparatus in existencewhich permitted the drying of skirts which may have become wetv in rainyweather and that there was no apparatus by which the skirt to be driedcould be held in position so as to retain its original shape. The usualcustom of drying skirts was to hang them flatly upon a line or othersupport, which prevented the free circulation of air and retarded thedrying process.

My invention permits the skirt, while stretched to its proper shape, tobe hung in the open air, permitting the free circulation of air to everypart thereof, so that the drying process is more quickly accomplishedand the skirt retains its proper and original shape.

his is the object of my invention, and I attain it by the meansillustrated in the accompanying drawings, to which I refer, and inwhich- Figure l shows an apparatus with the bottom of a skirt attachedthereto and suspended from a line. Fig. 2 shows the apparatus attachedto the bottom of the skirt, together with a projecting arm extending tothe waistband of the skirt, permitting the skirt to be suspended from aline, as shown in said Fig. 2, and permitting a freer circulation of airand a more rapid drying process. Figs. 3, 4, 5, and 6 illustrate detailsof construction.

Similar letters of reference indicate similar parts throughout theseveral views.

Referring more specifically to Fig. l, Z Z represent hooks by means ofwhich the device may he suspended from a line a or other means ofsupport. c and Z represent bars adapted to slide with relation to eachother,

by means of which the skirt is held in shape.

rIhese bars, as shown in the drawings, overlap each other and are heldin alinement by slides e and f, one slide, as e, being attached to thebar Z and the other slide, las f, being attached to the bar c. The bar Zis preferably provided with teeth upon its upper surface, as shown inthe drawings, into which the catch g is adapted to lit in order to holdthe bars in the extended position desired. The providing the bar (Z withteeth is a preferable construction; but it is obvious that the same maybe left plain, as in Fig. 2, and provided with a thumb-screw fr in placeof the catch g, the screw passing through both of the bars, so as tohold the same firmly. Each bar is provided with a semicircular band Land c', respectively, at its end, said band being adapted to iit alongthe base of the skirt, as shown in Fig. l. bars c and Z are moved withrelation to each other, so as to increase the distance between theirends, the bands /i and z', iitting into the base of the skirt, willstretch the latter and hold it in extended form. l

The device may be provided with an extension piece or arm j, as shown inFig. 2, adapted to support the waistband of the skirt. One of the bars,as p in Fig. 2, (shown in detail in Fig. 3,) may be recessed, as shownat s, to receive the tenon a of the bar j. The bar p is provided with abracket having arms 7:; and Zat either side of the recess s, thebrackets being provided with holes to receive a pin Z, adapted to passthrough the oblong opening m in the loai j'. The arrangement of parts issuch that when the bar j is supported in the arms 7i: and Z of thebracket on the bar p it may be slid toward and awayV from the bar p onthe pin Z, so that the tenon a may [it into the recess s and hold theparts Iirmly together or may be removed therefrom, permitting the bars pand y' to be collapsed upon each other, as shown in Fig. 6. The bars,fand p may be provided at their outer extremities with semicircularbands /t/ and vf for holding the skirt in proper position. It is obviousthat when the arm ,7' is knocked down or collapsed with reference to thearm ja it will form practically an extension of the said arm p and loethe equivalent of the device illustrated in Fig. 1, thus providing inone structure not only means for stretching and drying the bottom of askirt, but means for also stretching the bottom and skirt-band of askirt.

By the device described I obtain means for the rapid drying of skirtsand a retention of their original shape, at the same time i'cshapingskirts which have lost their shape by means of being wet, &c.

That I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,isW Y l. A device of the character described comprising two bars havingmeans whereby they are adapted to longitudinal movement upon It isobvious that as the IOO IIO.

bracket supported by said bar, and a slotted arm adapted to be supportedin said bracket 15 provided With a tenon adapted to iit into said recesswhereby said arm may be held at right angles to said bar or collapsedupon it, substantiallv as described.

In Witness whereof l have hereunto signed 2O my name in the presence oftwo Witnesses.

KATHERINE VVALSH- Witnesses:

KATHERINE A. WALSH, EMILY F. VVALsI-I.

